Hi, I'm topherchris. I joined Tumblr as a user in 2007 shortly after it launched, and was hired as Editorial Director in April 2009.

I like making animated gifs and photoshops, causing general wackiness, and participating in creative community engagement. To that end, I've just launched REBLORG, which will serve as a hub for debuting new creative work from the Tumblr community. (Here's a video that explains everything.)

I look forward to your questions about my experiences at Tumblr, the stuff I make, the goals I have for REBLORG, and if I'll put you on the Tumblr Radar.

(If you have a support issue or technical question, please visit our help section or contact support@tumblr.com. I can't get you a username that's been previously taken, sorry.)

Looking at the feature list, a lot of these look like they're already standard. Make sure you check out http://www.tumblr.com/tips

In general, there are infinite potential Tumblr features. But adding every feature imaginable will end up having the opposite effect, making Tumblr an unusable mess of buttons, menus, options, tooltips, and wizards.

If there's anything in particular extensions are adding that's important to you, please list them here and I'll check in with our engineers!

On navigation, replies, and post forms specifically, I can tell you big upgrades are forthcoming.

He's already skipped over this question so he can field complete softballs, so I think its safe to say he won't touch the missing e question with a 10 foot pole. Unless he decides to sidestep the question with a joke.

I didn't think he would. "A" because he's not a developer and "B" because Tumblr has a longstanding policy of ignoring any suggestions to improve the service, then expecting us to be thankful for the meager upgrades it deigns to make once a year or so.

At this point my question is how Missing E harms Tumblr's business model, because that's the only logical reason I can come up with for why the tumblr crew has ignored requests to integrate its features into the site in favor of trying to convince people that it's harmful to the service. In the unlikely event that they ever do decide to address the user base about Missing E, I hope their reasoning for not adding its features into the site is something more than "it would take a lot of coding." Some guy built the entire add-on in his living room with a box of scraps. I'm sure tumblr could pay him a few thousand dollars for the source code, tweak it as needed, then roll it into a major upgrade.

Jeremy Cutler, creator of Missing e, has very publicly released the source code for Missing e and stated on multiple occasions that Tumblr's developers have complete access to it and can do with it what they will. I think it really comes down to the dev team's pride getting in the way of improving the site and the user experience.

Missing E does more to increase the basic functionality and usability of Tumblr than RES does for Reddit. Reddit without RES is still easy enough to use; Tumblr without Missing E is like a car without wheels. You can sit in it, hit some buttons, spin the wheel, and do a few other things, but you can't really appreciate the potential and power of it until you actually get to make it go.

I agree with this. I didn't believe I was missing anything until I decided to try Missing E one day. The difference in ease of use is incredible and made Tumblr far more enjoyable to me than if I had never installed it. I may not have stayed with Tumblr at all, tbh.

The energy and talent in our developer community is HUGELY inspiring. Seriously. Just like the inspiration we get from discovering incredible creators on Tumblr, it's awesome to see what developers are doing with themes, extensions, and apps. I'm not a user of Missing E myself, but I know they've been hard at work on it.

What's with Tumblr's FUD campaign against it?

Not sure if you're referring to something else, but sometime last year we added a warning and started blocking email support for users running extensions that dramatically altered the Dashboard.

This was a solution so we didn't have to block extensions wholesale back when they were becoming responsible for the majority of our support tickets. That's also when nefarious extensions, used to hack accounts or inject spam, were starting to show up quickly.

I think "FUD campaign" is a little sensational. We do this for a bunch of extensions. And the caveats in the warning are important to understand -- especially for the many, many people who mistake these for official Tumblr extensions.

Their problem, if I remember correctly, is a security concern. By using the add-on you're giving the add-on certain permissions over your account and therefore it could possibly be malware. It might also do some sort of logging.
I don't use the add-on so I can't testify on how safe it is.

According to their nag message, their main issue has something to do with load on the tumblr servers. As I recall this was debunked by the plugin maker, and the fact that in the years of Missing E's existence tumblr hasn't flipped some switch to shut it down entirely seems to support the maker's claim.

As for any security issues, it's an opt-in plugin. It's not innately more risky than any other browser extension/add-on, or app, or cross-site login process that already exists and that millions of people use everyday.

Not really a question, but thanks a lot for constantly improving the site. Downtime used to be a big problem and now that seems to be a thing of the past. I love using tumblr both on my computer and the new app is better as well.

It's probably similar to any online community, because it all comes down to human behavior. There's brilliance around every corner, where you least expect it. On the other hand, some people can be dicks. (Our block feature basically takes care of that one.)

Is it true the block feature doesn't prevent users from seeing your content, it only keeps them from messaging you and appearing on your dash? I've heard that quite often, and I think it's pretty unfortunate for a blogging site. :/ Any plans to change that in the future?

But it has a lot to do with trying to witness as much of what's happening on the network as is humanly possible and bubbling up creators and content through vehicles like the Tumblr Radar, Staff Blog, Spotlight sections, and more.

This is a big question. I figure the entire internet itself will look and feel drastically different from what we see today. Everything is going mobile. Your television is already in play. Will web browsers have the same importance? I just don't know.

But: I think the framework provided by Tumblr Dashboard will remain the same, and you'll see more features and extensions layered on top of it. I think your minds will all be blown.

We all have lists of things we'd like to see happen. The higher-ups have even bigger lists than myself -- and I'm like the super-fan super-user guy. And the great thing is, we try these ideas. We don't push out everything we try, of course, but I'm not bothered at all in this area because innovation is a constant.

We plan group activities, which may sound weird until you realize that every week we add about 4.2 new employees (give or take and don't quote me on that). That's a lot of people in a room working towards a common goal who need to know each other. There's nothing like Karaoke to help programmers bond.

I hope it'll be a showcase for anyone who uses Tumblr to submit brand-new stuff (of any medium) that fits within a certain aesthetic. The Tumblr Aesthetic, perhaps? The coolest shit on the internet? Aim high.

Submissions are open to all, and we'll see contributions from a wider and wider slice of the community.

Puppies roam the office every day at noon. There's a required magic show once the sun begins to set. I saw David Karp ride a unicorn up to his office in the elevator one time.

Ah, jokes! It's a great office and a great location in NYC. Our team is growing exponentially in number, so the biggest issue has been finding enough space for everyone. The growth of the team since when I started continues to blow my mind.

Hey Chris! I just wanted to thank you for inspiring creativity on Tumblr and for expressing yourself through your own sense of humor. Clearly, I'm not quite in the possession of the same skills, but I always get a kick out of your posts and what you're trying to do with creative community engagement.

How exactly are posts chosen for Tumblr's Radar? What are some of the most popular Tumblrs? Are there more ideas like Reblorg coming our way? Are there ever going to be analytics for posts on the dashboard as far as views/hits/etc on the dashboard??? (Like facebook tells you how many people have seen the post) Thanks!

Are there some members of the Tumblr community that just plain freak you out? I've been a member of Tumblr for years now and I've seen so many blogs that I couldn't possibly imagine seeing on the internet 10 years ago. I mean... REBLORG's content is crazy but I've seen things on a whole new level!

As a Tumblr user I have a very specific idea of what the Tumblr Community consists of, an idea that is obviously shaped by my own experience. I'm curious about yours, though, given that your experience as an "insider" is probably a lot different from the average user's. Basically, what is your idea of the Tumblr Community?

And also, what happens when you run out of pretty colours? I mean eventually it has to happen you know.

Great point. We all have our circles of who we follow and who follows us, but that's obviously just a fraction of the entire community. For me, being an insider meant that I had to lose the concept of there being any specific ideas about the community. It's vast, it's international, it's filled with people who think everything they post is art (like me) and people who use their blog as simply a place to make jokes for their friends.

When I run out of colors, I'll pursue a Pretty Colors book deal. And then get to work on making brand-new colors.

Thanks for the answer! I can see your point about the need of not having any preconception about the community, espcieally if you are working to make the experience better for everyone and not just, say, Doctor Who fans.

Great idea about the colours, it has always bothered me how limited the colour spectrum is for us humans. Good luck about that and your work!

You should be able to use this: Clicking "I understand" sets a permanent cookie that prevents the warning from reappearing. Make sure you're not clearing that cookie or clicking "I understand" while your browser is in Private/Incognito mode.

There are a few options available for that. There's a script available at userscripts.org that will block it via JS, and one that will block it via CSS. Depending on your browser you need something like greasemonkey to make that work though.

Are you on Firefox? I noticed that when using Tumblr on Firefox I got the message several times a day, but since I switched to Chrome I get it only once every other day or so. The ideal would of course be for Tumblr to store my answer in a permanent cookie so that after the first time I tell them to piss off, they don't keep asking me ad infinitum.

Actually, there's an idea-- I bet they DO store your answer in a temporary cookie, and its expiration is what triggers your being asked again. If that cookie does exist, you could probably extend its expiration date to something in far off future so that you don't get asked again.

This is a great question. My view is that yes, my job actually straddles editorial and community. I feel like that's true of most online communities, but especially for one like Tumblr. At least for me, they're both one thing.

Balancing time... That's tricky. It helps to love the product and its potential. It helps even more that I really care about making cool/funny shit and waiting for people to either love or hate it (hopefully love it). That's what really keeps me going.

My name is Christopher. My nickname was Topher. My username is topherchris. The prank intended to convey that the actual meaning of my username was "top her, chris." I'm not even sure what that means, but it doesn't sound good.

(A surprisingly large portion of the populace doesn't seem to be familiar with the name "topher," which has led to these kinds of issues on many occasions.)

I was a coder before Tumblr (PHP, MySQL, crap) and when they started talking to me, I assumed it was for a coding job. I even submitted a coding sample, which is hilarious to me now. (I sucked compared to these guys!)

Turns out, there was another plan. Being funny, serving as a Tumblr mascot, finding the gold within millions of blogs, and continually hoping to make people excited about this platform.

Over the past year, Tumblr has become a platform for a lot of "Social Justice Blogging", causing a lot of backlash in regards to its sometimes unintentional-yet-trivial treatment of serious matters regarding minorities in society. What is your view on this?

There has always been a bit of a love-hate relationship between artists/content creators and Tumblr, most arguing that it's very easy for credit to be taken away (or credit attributed to the wrong source, like weheartit). Again, your views, and what are you doing to actively work with artists and content creators in regards to this issue?

I've been on Tumblr five years, have followed you since before you were employed by Tumblr, yet you still don't follow me. Why?

I'd like to hear more about this. On principle, I would certainly like to do all in my power to ensure that this is not a problem. Would you have any suggestions? Would you like to email me? topherchris at tumblr.

As somebody who's had my own work ripped off and watermarked by other blogs and networks, I feel like I'm in a unique position. I hate it when it happens to me, and I'm obviously incredibly sympathetic when it happens to others. I don't see it as a Tumblr problem so much as an internet problem. (Or a "lazy people on the internet don't care about tracking down that kind of information" problem.) It's a tough problem to solve. I think the more popular we can help make artists, the less likely and effective it'll be for somebody else to uncredit it without feeling the wrath of the internet.

I'm so sorry to hear that! I don't have a reason for you, but I'll see about rectifying that!

"Social Justice" seems to be a community unique to Tumblr. What do you think of the phenomenon and its ever-increasing cloud of drama? Do you think Tumblr users' societal awareness does more good than harm?

The recent of addition advertising on Tumblr has been handled very well, only occasionally using the radar and usually being entertaining gifs. Are there any plans to expand the advertising beyond current features? What do you think the future for Tumblr is in terms of advertising?

The energy and talent in our developer community is HUGELY inspiring. Seriously. Just like the inspiration we get from discovering incredible creators on Tumblr, it's awesome to see what developers are doing with themes, extensions, and apps. I'm not a user of Missing E myself, but I know they've been hard at work on it.

This was a solution so we didn't have to block extensions wholesale back when they were becoming responsible for the majority of our support tickets. That's also when nefarious extensions, used to hack accounts or inject spam, were starting to show up quickly.

I think "FUD campaign" is a little sensational. We do this for a bunch of extensions. And the caveats in the warning are important to understand -- especially for the many, many people who mistake these for official Tumblr extensions.

Looking at the feature list, a lot of these look like they're already standard. Make sure you check out Link to www.tumblr.com

In general, there are infinite potential Tumblr features. But adding every feature imaginable will end up having the opposite effect, making Tumblr an unusable mess of buttons, menus, options, tooltips, and wizards.

If there's anything in particular extensions are adding that's important to you, please list them here and I'll check in with our engineers!

On navigation, replies, and post forms specifically, I can tell you big upgrades are forthcoming.

Tumblr seems to favor hand-crafted or manually approved recommendations in many areas of editorial/discovery (Explore, Spotlight, Radar). I really dig this. Other sites have a more hands-off approach to popularity (Reddit) or gravity (Twitter trends). This is great for them, but I think it's cool that different sites have different approaches.

That said, I can't help but feel so much of Tumblr is "hidden" given that Tumblr search doesn't work. I almost used the word "broken" to describe Tumblr search, but as a years-long user of Tumblr I believe the state of Tumblr search must be deliberate, and not something that Tumblr wants to change.

How do you see the relationship of search and editorial discovery? Can you talk about the future of discovery tools at Tumblr (not limited to search)?

I'd say broken is a pretty good descriptor for Tumblr search. It's clunky, fussy, often inaccurate, and the inability to search for multiple tags at once makes it impossible to find things at times. I stopped using tumblr search in favor of google, which is a hell of a lot easier to use.

I hadn't thought about that actually. Google doesn't seem to have an option that allows you to search a page's source code, which I imagine is what you'd need to be able to do in order to find blogs that are built on the tumblr platform. Hm.

Thanks! The hand-crafted feel of our editorial/discovery areas is no fakeout. For years, it was literally me. (You're welcome, internet!)

Search is a tricky matter. I can't comment on the technical aspects of our search feature. On a non-technical point, and speaking for myself, I feel like the concept of "search" needs to evolve a bit before it could be anything near an idea discovery mode for today's internet -- which isn't nearly as text-based as it was back in the day.

I think search will be a part of discovery, but optimally it'll have some aspects that haven't been invented yet. Discovery is vitally important to us, and we're trying different things even as I type this.

Regain the ability to reblog asks (without it, discussion-based blogs quickly become a dash flooding nightmare of people responding to asks via other asks. With no way to know what questions are coming up and with the mods having to scramble to respond to each ask, the inability to reblog or comment on asks doesn't lend itself to productive conversation.)

1) Thanks so much for posting this. If this works, it's epic (where did you find it? It's surely undocumented, no?)

2) I'm not sure it's really filtering on the second tag. For example, http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/organic?from_tag=garden is definitely finding organic, but that sure looks like a lot of false positives for "garden." Since Tumblr search is already fuzzy, it's hard to know if this is a real false positive, or just typical crazy Tumblr search.

So, David Karp is kind of like an Internet hero of mine. What's he like IRL? Is he annoying or just a down to Earth lovely guy? Being a CEO of an Internet company that's churning out 400 million page views a day must have taken some strain. Have you ever had any arguments with him or disagreements that you'd be happy to share?

He's a really nice guy who is also one of the smartest people I know. Smarts is hard to define, but for me it's all about bandwidth. The guy can keep 14 different unrelated concepts going in his head at the same time, and not have to fake it. But at the end of the day, he's just a really friendly and polite dude.

Help! I stole an image from another Tumblr and posted it with text and now everyone is reblogging it without the comment (even though I'm still credited with a link). I don't really have a request, but who's your favorite Simpsons character?

I'm a long time tumblr user (in fact, you might recognize my sn) and just wanted to say again, how awesome of a job everyone on the team is doing with Tumblr. I can safely say it's my favorite social media website next to reddit.

Now that that is all out of the way, as an Artist I've fallen in love with Tumblr, especially over the past year.

What has the team done (if anything, maybe it's organic?) to cultivate more artistic posts and artists to join Tumblr, where do you see Tumblr's current place in the contemporary art world, and what do you see in it's future (if you can see forward in time or time travel)?

Hey EricsOzone, I'm Annie (anniewerner.tumblr.com) and I work on Arts Outreach at Tumblr. I was so excited to see your question! I've created a few community outlets to cultivate more artistic use of the platform and just wanted share.

1) The curated http://tumblr.com/tagged/artists+on+tumblr/
2) My community arts blog http://tumblropenarts.tumblr.com/ -- here I post submissions of original art by artists on Tumblr, highlight new art blogs, and inform the community of awesome opportunities.
3) There's also the directory: artistsontumblr.tumblr.com as well as a best practices blog: bestpracticesforartists.tumblr.com.
4) I also spend a fair amount of time getting art institutions and art brands to use Tumblr.

I'm excited to make this community even better, so I appreciate your feedback! Feel free to submit to any of the blogs up there.

I'm an artist who loves tumblr too! For me, there's the two three main things that make it great

Its a very image friendly site, unlike twitter for example.

Easy for people to interact with you

A great balance between democratic and elitist. Anyone's paintings can end up on the "painting" tag, but art is saved for high quality stuff. So my so-so paintings have a chance to be seen on "painting", but I can then go look at great stuff on "Art"

I'm already following all of those blogs (besides yours, which I added) and I've got to say they've been bringing a lot of great content to Tumblr's forefront, that was definitely harder to get to prior to the addition of all the new Tumblr accounts.

One more question -- I've noticed a lot of schools getting into the Pinterest game, do you think schools like where I attend gradschool (California College of the Arts) would benefit from also posting on Tumblr, and in what way could they use it to interact with its students. (I've been debating on pushing for this for my school, haha)

I really hope people check some of these things out -- if you like Tumblr, and are an artist, it's a really great resource and tool to find other artists!

And for the lazy, I've re-included some of the links below that weren't clickable. I also included a bit more information to spice it up and try to really sell people on how awesome these resources are haha

Annie's Tumblr - Works on "Arts Outreach" for Tumblr, she's the one who replied to my questions.

Artists on Tumblr Tag -- You can follow tags on tumblr to find posts about specific content from people you don't already follow!

Tumblr Open Arts - A great resource on getting your work out to the Tumblr public, or just checking out some art for the day. I highly recommend following this

If I remember correctly, you were plucked out of some software dev job in Florida after some high-profile blogging on tumblr.
Where do you think you'd be today if tumblr had never existed?
Where do you think you'd be if they refused to hire you?
What does David tend to eat for lunch?

Mr. Chris, I am getting ready for a conf call with your peers about Brands on Tumblr. It's not really your area, but how are you going to keep the feel of tumblr while you bring brands and sponsorships online?